THE ACQUISITION, DEVELOPMENT AND MAINTENANCE OF LOTTERY AND SCRATCHCARD GAMBLING IN ADOLESCENCE

The U.K. National Lottery and instant scratchcards are now well establ ished yet there is still little empirical research on the players. Thi s study was an exploratory investigation of the psychosocial effects o f these forms of gambling among adolescents (n = 1195; aged 11- to 15- years-old). Using a questionnaire, it was shown that large numbers of adolescents were taking part in these activities. There was a signific ant link between parental and child gambling with most lottery tickets and scratchcards being bought for the adolescents by their parents. R esults showed that many adolescents thought they would win lots of mon ey on these activities and that these activities were in general not p erceived to be forms of gambling. Six per cent of adolescents fulfiled the DSM-IV-J criteria for pathological gambling, the majority of whic h were males. (C) 1998 The Association for Professionals in Services f or Adolescents.